Closed churches' appeal to Vatican unsuccessful

Although it has exhausted appeals to the Vatican, a council of closed parishes – including ones in Quincy and Scituate – has vowed to pursue a separate set of appeals of any effort to sell the former churches.

By Jack Encarnacao

The Patriot Ledger, Quincy, MA

By Jack Encarnacao

Posted Jan. 13, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 13, 2011 at 1:07 PM

By Jack Encarnacao

Posted Jan. 13, 2011 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 13, 2011 at 1:07 PM

» Social News

Though it has exhausted appeals to the Vatican, a council of closed parishes – including ones in Quincy and Scituate – has vowed to pursue a separate set of appeals of any effort to sell the former churches.

Sean Glennon, co-chairman of a group fighting the closure of Mary Star of the Sea parish in Squantum, said the group remains ready to appeal any move by the Archdiocese of Boston to sell the church.

“If (the archbishop) can’t sell it, than we’re hopeful that might persuade him to reopen, because then it’s of no use to him,” Glennon said.

Peter Borre, chairman of the Council of Parishes, a group of Boston-area churches that were dissolved by the archdiocese, said the sale appeal would include St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in Scituate. Parishioners there have held a round-the-clock vigil to prevent the church from being closed.

In a letter received by the Council of Parishes last month, an undersecretary to Pope Benedict XVI stated that he had decided not to review the appeal. That was the highest authority to which the parishioners could appeal.

The archdiocese announced the round of church closings in 2004. Mary Star of the Sea appealed the closing to four higher authorities.

“We really didn’t think the pope was going to overturn (the closure),” Glennon said, “but we wanted to at least try to elevate our cause to this level, and at least let him know what is going on. We were happy just to get a response.”

The Boston archdiocese has maintained that a final decision on the closings has been made.

“We all knew the ground rules going into the appeal process,” said Terrence Donilon, an archdiocese spokesman. “Certainly if the Vatican had ruled against the decisions of the archdiocese, we would have abided by those rules.”

“Our hope,” Donilon said, “is that folks will realize that there are 291 parishes that are open and ... the folks in vigil will join one of those welcoming parishes.”

The Council of Parishes has notified the archdiocese that it will appeal a future attempt to obtain a Vatican decree that would enable the archdiocese to sell church property.

Donilon said the archdiocese has yet to, but will, seek the decree.

“It’s premature to be really addressing that issue,” he said.

Glennon said the parish group has retained a lawyer to handle that future appeal, and that such action has, in the past, prevented the sale of churches in Pennsylvania and New York.